Participants in the Tracker Tom Charles Memorial King and Queen Trapper Competition. (Image Credit: Submitted photo/Tania Colbert)

By Derek Cornet

competition

King and Queen Trappers crowned at Lac La Ronge Winter Festival

Mar 8, 2026 | 5:00 PM

Winners have been declared in the Tracker Tom Charles Memorial King and Queen Trapper Competition. 

Leah McLeod of Grandmother’s Bay and Richard Charles of Stanley Mission are the respective winners after two days of competition. McLeod won with 36 points and Charles won with 55.  

In total, there were seven women competing and five men. They went head-to-head in 11 different events including snowshoeing, log tossing, log sawing, ax tossing, nail pounding, tea boiling and bannock making on the first day, and then trap setting, animal calling, rope winding and the portage on the second.  

“I’m so surprised because I had some pretty tough competition,” McLeod, who returned to competing after a four-year break, said.  

“These ladies are pretty experienced and skilled.”

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McLeod also plans to compete at upcoming winter festivals in Brabant Lake, Grandmother’s Bay and Sucker River. While she explained she doesn’t have much time to practice, she does try to stay active while caring for her children. 

“We go on quite a bit of walks and I take a sleigh. I pull all of them, even my 10-year-old and 11-year-old. I try to keep active with them. That’s the only thing I do,” McLeod noted. 

Charles is a regular at the Lac La Ronge Winter Festival and he placed second behind Gerald McKenzie in 2025. So far, Charles has been declared the winner at the Prince Albert and Stanley Mission events, and he plans to attend upcoming competitions in Grandmother’s Bay and Southend.  

“Here in La Ronge, it is hard to beat the guys here because points are going all over,” Charles said. 

“Sometimes you got to get lucky like at axe throwing. Everybody is good. Sometimes you get a little bit off. Experience will help.” 

As the winners of the competition, Charles and McLeod both received $1,500.  

derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com